The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a tough book for me to read, I will have to admit. I don’t read a lot of books that detail sexual encounters. For the most part, I think that is an adolescent way to sell a book that has little story. So, although I was enjoying the story and the dialogue in the previous chapters, I began feeling uneasy when the protagonist is about 14. The crass talk in the bar really put me off. In skimmed through and was in the midst of his 21st year and put the book down. I was finished. I really didn’t need the details of Cyril’s homosexual encounters or Julien’s heterosexual ones.

The book sat for less than 12 hours. I was still interested in the story and the clever writing and decided I would give it another try and skip large passages. As the book progressed, I skipped less and less until I was fully enjoying the characters’ journeys. In fact, I didn’t put the book down until I finished it in the wee hours of the morning.

In retrospect, I recognize Cyril’s journey of learning who he is to accepting who he is to being completely honest about who he is and how that impacted his relationships was apparent in his view about sex. To complicate the matter, the story is mostly set in Ireland, a country that is very contradictory with its laws yet secret behavior. Cyril’s sexuality became less about sex and more about his own integrity and his relationships. Which is precisely why, once I largely skimmed some of his years, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It touched me deeply as I journeyed with him through the decades and his complicated relationships with those that were most important to him. In fact, besides the witty dialogue and description, it is the relationships that Cyril navigates that has me still thinking about the book today.

Ultimately, I can’t help but think of the saying, “Those who care don’t matter. Those who matter don’t care.” I would also add, “They just love.”